32. Ember #2
When I made it to the gender reveal, I remember being so nervous as Rhema and I stepped onto the yacht.
I looked around, wondering what had happened before I got there.
People were all over the place; some looked frightened, a line of people were looking into the ocean, while others looked upset and shocked.
As I tried to figure out why no one looked excited at an event that was supposed to be a joyful occasion, my eyes made contact with the man who I had never gotten out of my system.
When I last saw his face, he was much younger, but he still had that same face, just more manly and as handsome as ever.
Reason was the last person I expected to see.
I didn’t understand what he was doing at this gender reveal as I felt everything start to go dark around me.
Before I could completely black out, someone sprang into action, and I knew it was none other than Reason holding me and screaming for help.
Just like on the jet, there was a medical team on deck.
When I came back to my good senses, the first person I saw after Rhema was Reason. Right away, I asked what he was doing here, trying to take the attention off me. I didn’t want him to know what I was doing for money.
While I fretted about how I was going to explain my presence, Reason wasted no time answering my question and telling me who he was.
That’s when it dawned on me: I was pregnant with my high school sweetheart and my forever love’s baby.
Oh, my goodness. It all made sense now. The name painted on the jet, “A&F Air,” meant Always & Forever.
That was something I started saying to him one day, and it stuck.
After all these years, this man still hadn’t forgotten about me.
Tears ran down my face and pooled around my lips as I stared at him.
My heart began to race and ache simultaneously, because I remembered he wasn’t doing this alone.
Reason had a wife, and it wasn’t me. I repeated it in my head.
But saying that didn’t feel right. I was supposed to be Mrs. Reason St. Pierre, but what did I expect when I was the one who left him?
What would his wife think when she found out Reason and I go way back?
Or when she found out her husband and me already shared a baby.
I asked him what had happened before I got there, and he briefly ran down the horrible things that had occurred before and what he had found out about his wife.
He revealed that she was a soap opera actress, and I realized she was the woman who was being escorted off the yacht while the medical team tended to me.
The best news he told me out of the bad things he mentioned was that I was pregnant with a baby boy, something that was revealed when I blacked out.
I felt bad because Rhema was scared and crying during the scare.
She thought something bad was happening to me, and I didn’t want my baby to see me in such a weak state.
She was too young to understand what I was feeling.
She didn’t understand seeing her father after all this time had struck my heart, and my deep love for him had been activated.
One day my baby would understand. I prayed to God a love like the one her parents had would find her too.
I could tell the question was swarming in Reason’s mind about whether Rhema was his daughter, especially when he asked her age. When I told him, his eyes grew large, but he didn’t ask any other questions.
Rhema went to sleep in one of the bedrooms below deck while Reason and I were in the master suite, catching up on all the years we weren’t in each other’s lives.
He kept staring at me like this was all a dream, and I felt the same.
I couldn’t believe how life had brought us back together in this way.
“Em, is Rhema my daughter?” Reason blurted out the question I was sure had been stuck in his head since he first saw her.
“Yes,” I admitted. There was no need to hold back now.
He ran his hand across his head. “Why?” he asked, tears forming for the second time since we reunited earlier.
I took a minute to gather my thoughts as our baby boy kicked and moved around. Saying “our” came naturally. Before this, I always ensured that I kept it respectful and said “their” baby.
Reason saw my belly move as it began to look deformed. This made his tears fall as he reached over and placed his hand on me to feel his baby kick. This may not have happened the traditional way, and we both had no idea about the connection, but this was meant to happen.
I’m really carrying my first and only real love’s second baby. God, you’re so good.
In the middle of Reason feeling our baby boy do his usual gymnastics routine, he looked into my eyes again, waiting for me to respond. Reason wasn’t letting me off the hook so easily.
For the next two and a half hours, I started from the beginning and told Reason everything.
Why I had kept our daughter a secret, the internal turmoil I experienced without him, my parents kicking me out and having to figure things out on my own, and my aunt caring for us before she died.
When I was done, there wasn’t a dry face in sight.
Reason took it hard, now knowing I had endured a lot without him.
I didn’t want him to carry any hurt, guilt, or burden, because our journey had only led us back to each other.
At last, for the first time in a long time, we fell asleep together, with me lying on his chest while he wrapped his arm around my belly, holding me and our unborn baby close.
“No fuckin’ way this is your life right now.” Cassie sat next to me, stunned about the details I’d shared with her about what happened at the gender reveal.
I had expressed to Reason how much I needed my friend, and he instantly asked for her information and had Cassie on the jet flying to Miami the next morning. Mr. MakeItHappen had become my new nickname for him.
When Cassie got here, Reason took that as an opportunity to take Rhema out.
He said he didn’t want to waste any more time away from his daughter.
Before they went out, we sat her down and explained our situation as much as her little mind could understand.
I was afraid she would be mad at me, but my baby surprised me.
The way she latched on to Reason, outsiders would’ve thought he’d physically been in her life since birth. I cried so hard seeing them together.
“Girl, fuck the scandals,” Cassie said, bringing me back to the conversation.
“I’m still stuck on my best frienddd,” she emphasized, “having a filthy rich baby daddy. And not only is he rich, but he’s the head honcho of Black television.
Ember, pinch my ass right the hell now because I gots to be dreaming. ”
“Oh, Cassie.” I laughed. “Leave it to you to be all star struck and shit.”
“Girl, ain’t you!” She swatted at a small bug buzzing near her face and kept talking once it flew away. “Rhema, my lil’ baby, is really a St. Pierre. Like your baby fatherrrr, is really the owner of UTN.”
Cassie acted like I knew about the network Reason owned.
I was out of the loop when it came to cable TV.
It was never a necessity because I couldn’t afford it.
After I left Reason many years ago, I never looked up his name or tried to find him.
I would have learned where he was in life now, but I had gotten used to fighting the feeling because I had done it for so long.
I couldn’t face the decision I made that difficult day, so I lived life acting like it never happened.
Now, seeing how far he’d come, I doubt all that he accomplished would have happened if he had stayed with us in Los Angeles and given up on his dreams.
Reason had done extremely well for himself, like I knew he would.